Anaheim to provide Spanish translations at City Council meetings

Spanish speakers will be able to have their comments translated into English by the assistant city clerk as soon as the next council meeting. The headphone-translation service will start within 60 days.

ANAHEIM – Spanish speakers in this city will soon have an easier way to communicate with the City Council – for at least a year.

The council on Tuesday night unanimously voted to provide translation services at its meetings for a yearlong pilot program.

"The time came, in my opinion, a long time ago for this to be done," said Councilman Jordan Brandman, who proposed the program.

Latinos are 53 percent of the city's population. And 43.5 percent, or 133,300 people in the city, speak Spanish at home, according to the U.S. Census. Of that, 67,700 people speak English less than "very well," according to the census.

The city already made a translator available at council meetings to those who requested one at least 48 hours beforehand. But most non-English speakers who come to meetings instead chose to bring their own translators, City Clerk Linda Andal told the council.

The city will used headsets it already has so that those who need translations can hear a city staffer translating English to Spanish. For those wishing to address the council in Spanish, the assistant city clerk will be available at meetings to translate their comments.

Using a staffer to translate will cost about $5,000 per year. Hiring an outside vendor would cost about $20,700 per year, according to a city report.

Other Orange County public agencies that have translation programs in place at meetings include the Santa Ana City Council, the Santa Ana Unified School District and the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.

At Tuesday night's meeting, two members of the public spoke in favor of the translation program. No one spoke against it.

Councilwoman Lucille Kring expressed concern that languages other than Spanish will not be included in the new program.

"My concern is that in our city schools, 60-plus languages are spoken," Kring said. "How are we going to accommodate those other speakers?"

City Clerk Andal replied that people speaking languages other than Spanish would still need to request a translator up to 48 hours in advance.

Spanish speakers will be able to have their comments translated into English by the assistant city clerk as soon as the next council meeting. The headphone-translation service will start within 60 days.

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